THE HISTORY OF OUR PREDICAMENT
Bonner County surreptitiously allowed the installation of a Wireless Backhaul site for SpaceX, by violating the existing Bonner County Comprehensive Plan. Furthermore, the County did this without any public input whatsoever AND with the full knowledge of the February 18, 2020 finished work of the Selle-Samuels Area Subcommittee.
TIMELINE
May 15, 2020 Grading began at 9183 Colburn Culver Rd.
May 27, 2020 A significant electrical infrastructure is installed.
May 29, 2020 Neighbor contacts County to complain that permitting protocols were not in place (Vogel, Ollerton).
June 3, 2020 Neighbor meets with Ollerton, Britt and Klatt. No permits on file.
June 10, 2020 Britt emails Ollerton at 2p.m. announcing that he placed a stop work order on the Colburn Culver property.
June 10, 2020 Ollerton calls and emails Jasper and Stavros at Fatbeam “We should be able to come to a conclusion on the best path forward shortly after we receive this additional information.”
June 17, 2020 Amanda DeLima at P & Z to Ryan Wolfe at SpaceX “Director Milton Ollerton, of Bonner County Planning Department passed your information along to me. I wanted to reach out to you as you begin the process of submitting a Conditional Use Permit for your proposed project off Colburn Culver Road. I have been advised that your intent is to submit your permit by Friday.”
July 10, 2020 Milton Ollerton approves and issues a Building Location Permit.
July 14, 2020 DeLima to Wolfe “If the antennas are already permanently placed the county will do one inspection. This case is unique because you placed everything before getting a permit with the county. . . . I don’t think I really understand your comment about the construction not being a part of this permit. I was not aware other construction was taking place on this property. This permit is for the antennas only. If other structures are being erected more permits would be needed.” 8:03p.m.
July 14, 2020 Wolfe to DeLima, worried that they are not on the same page and says all construction is minor. “The antennas do not seem like something that would require a permit any more than parking a car in a garage.” 8:21p.m.
July 14, 2020 Neighbor receives a voicemail from Ollerton stating that a Building Location Permit 2020-0406 has been approved. They meet at County conference room so neighbor can inspect permit. Neighbor reviews permit and makes notes of errors.
July 20, 2020 Cody Jasper at Fatbeam says “We will have the Antennas placement completed on Tuesday 7/21. I was wondering if it would be possible to have the inspection done Wednesday 7/22. We will have some guys from SpaceX onsite and access into the site will be easier.”
July 20, 2020 “Cody, You must have an inspection prior to placement of the antennas. Please call your compliance officer to schedule a time to meet out there and do the inspection.” DeLima
August 7, 2020 A group of neighbors form an Appellant group called SAVE SELLE VALLEY and serve Bonner County with a formal appeal in order to get some answers.
August 12, 2020 A Notice of Appeal of Administrative Decision flier is posted at the County Administration Building, but topic of appeal is not mentioned.
August 14, 2020 Hearing took place from 9a.m. to 11a.m. Appellants were only allowed 3 minutes each, however Planning Director Ollerton spent 32 minutes on his preamble, plus was allowed to have a substantial rebuttal. Commissioner Connolly makes the motion to affirm the Building Location Permit by Ollerton and Commissioner Bradshaw seconds motion, it passes.
August 18, 2020 Appellants received a formal Appeal rejection of BLP 2020-0406, which contained factual errors, i.e. 1) “the use is in the same classification as solar facilities”, 2) “the subject’s property is zoned AG/Forest-20”.
August 19, 2020 Appellants seek legal assistance from Norm Semanko of Parsons, Behle & Latimer, a Boise firm.
August 28, 2020 Reconsideration of the Appeal was submitted by Semanko to Bonner County.
September 4, 2020 Semanko on behalf of SAVE SELLE VALLEY filed a petition with the F.C.C. seeking reconsideration of SpaceX’s temporary federal permit for failing to comply with the applicable F.C.C. Rules.
September 5, 2020 Save the Valley Rally occurs at Culver Farms.
September 15, 2020 Selle-Samuels Area Subcommittee members air complaints at the 9a.m. Bonner County Commissioners weekly business meeting, over Milton Ollerton’s revised maps. The Subcommittee had requested 100 more copies of their Completed Plan. They had received over a 100 perfect copies from staff, however Milton’s copies had been altered to exclude SpaceX from the boundaries.
September 19, 2020 READ THE PLAN 10a.m.-2p.m. at ODEN Hall. Community came out to read copies of the February 18, 2020 finished SELLE-SAMUELS Community Area Plan. Plan refuses all 5G instillations within the boundary maps.
September 24, 2020 HEAR THE PLAN 6p.m. at ODEN Hall. Presentation given by the SELLE-SAMUELS area subcommittee on their (February 18, 2020) finished plan. Community very supportive of area plan, as they erupted in applause for it. Sitting Bonner County Planning & Zoning Commissioner Matt Linscott, e-mailed area Realtors from his mother’s e-mail address, in order get clients to attend the hearing.
October 20, 2020 Appellants and friends attend the 9a.m. Bonner County Commissioner’s weekly business meeting and spent an hour listing the missteps that led to the licensure of the SpaceX Colburn Gateway. They informed the Commissioners that the temporary license with the F.C.C. had expired and asked the Commissioners to protect the people that they represent, which would end the unlawful experimentation on their constituents. The posted Minutes of the meeting failed to reflect any content of the appellants complaints.
October 27, 2020 Bonner County allows a default denial to occur with the SAVE SELLE VALLEY Reconsideration Appeal. SpaceX installs three more globe antennas to the other 6, now they have 9. Permit is for 8 globe antennas.
October 30, 2020 Semanko files Petition to Deny the F.C.C.’s permanent licensure of SpaceX Colburn Gateway. File Number: SES-LIC-20200616-00647
(Call Sign E202113 – Fixed Satellite Service: Colburn, ID Gateway Earth Station)
